Buried Alive in History: Poetics, Politics and Ethics of Time in Startling by Each Step (Bubu jingxin) and Other Chinese Time‐Travel Historical Romances

Abstract

The dawn of the new millennium witnessed the rise of Internet literature in China. Time-travel historical romances ( chuanyue lishi xiaoshuo ) became one of the most prominent genres produced and circulated online. At the heart of each story lies a fictitious hero who goes back in time to witness, facilitate, delay or alter a particular historical incident or series of historical events. Focusing on temporal poetics, politics and ethics in Tong Hua’s Startling by Each Step ( Bubu jingxin ) and its TV and film adaptations, whilst also drawing upon a number of other well-acclaimed time-travel historical romances, this paper builds a threefold argument. Firstly, I argue that the aesthetic fascination of this genre mainly consists in its dramatization of the temporal clash between imperial and modern zeitgeists, interweaving the traditional device of dreams to deal with the Lacanian Real; secondly, although the immense popularity of the time-travel motif evinces a fascination with the fast pace of the digital age, Startling by Each Step tempers that trend by slowing things down and suggesting a yearning for the individual’s temporal sovereignty; finally, the causal loop innate in this genre necessitates a transgression of historical linearity which often leads to unintended catastrophes and results in a prevailing sense of historical determinism. However, in Startling by Each Step a Heidegger-like resolute struggle for finite freedom within time delivers from the recognition of one’s fateful destiny.